1/23/2010 10:00:00 PM Days Past: The Hassayampa Country Club's heyday - Part II
Courtesy photo
The Hassayampa Country Club, shown here in the 1940s, was "fun for old and young in a jewel-like setting of verdant foliage and towering pines with lovely Thumb Butte for a background," according to the club brochure in 1941.
Days Past is a weekly feature in the Courier, supplied by Sharlot Hall Museum volunteers, chronicling historic events in Prescott.
By GUY COATES
The Hassayampa Country Club had its beginning in 1919 and quickly became a favorite social establishment despite its primitive conditions. Late in 1939, the club and 160 acres of surrounding area were purchased by Harvey Cory, who immediately began many improvements. The old clubhouse was torn down and a new one constructed. A pool was added as well as tennis courts. The sand and oil greens were replaced with cottonseed and were rolled three times a day.
Between 1940 and 1945, 14 summer homes were built. Two of these were for the use of the new club owner, Harvey Cory, and his family, and the remaining homes were rented exclusively to families with children. This fulfilled Cory's dream of creating a place for adults to socialize and play golf while their children enjoyed the town's only swimming pool.
The club's popularity soared during the years preceding and following World War II.
Being a major center for social events in Prescott, success was largely due to the many business and professional people who brought their families to Prescott during the warm summer months.
"An exclusive up-to-date country club providing every facility for summer pleasure for young and old," stated a 1941 club brochure. "Fun for old and young in a jewel-like setting of verdant foliage and towering pines with lovely Thumb Butte for a background."
When Cory died in 1949, his grandson, Jack Bartlett, became the owner. Lush greens were installed during the 1950s and it was this same decade that ushered in new courses at Antelope Hills, Pinetop Lakes and the White Mountains.
Despite its relatively low monthly dues of $25, membership declined during the 1960s. Since the property was located outside the city limits, the club paid double water rates, which created higher maintenance costs. Irrigation was restricted to only the greens and the tee boxes. Large clumps of dead grass on the fairways created an uneven surface and golfers had to locate a level spot for ball placement before taking the next swing.
Since the modest membership fees could no longer support the cost of maintaining the course, the golf course closed in 1969. It remained dormant for nearly 30 years until purchased in 1995 by Desert Troon Development.
The course was redesigned under the professional guidance of Tom Weiskopf, expanding it to 18 holes while taking care to preserve the existing landscape and natural creeks. The result is a stunning masterpiece. A new irrigation system was provided through the utilization of Prescott effluent, which is diverted to the golf club's own sewage treatment plant. The firm also developed a master-planned community of single and multi-family residences.
The new Hassayampa Golf Course opened in July 1998, followed by the grand opening of a 30,000-square-foot wood and stone clubhouse in April, 1999.
In late 2001, the old clubhouse, bath house, swimming pool and tennis courts built in the early 1940s were demolished by the Canavest Group, which purchased the 3.25 acres to make way for The Views condominium complex along today's 12th fairway.
The 14 homes along Old Hassayampa Lane were purchased by a group of seven investors who agreed to protect them from demolition. In 2003, the Prescott City Council approved the creation of an historic overlay district for the homes, which have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The efforts of the investors were recognized when they received the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation.
In March 2008, the Hassayampa Golf Club was purchased by its members, making it one of Prescott's premier private golf clubs.
Visit the club's website at HassayampaGolf.com for photos, membership information and directions.
Guy Coates is a researcher and author of many historical articles, most of which were published in the Sierra Sun of Truckee, Nev.
This and other Days Past articles are available at sharlot.org and via RSS e-mail subscription.
The public is encouraged to submit articles for Days Past consideration. Please contact Scott Anderson at Sharlot Hall Museum Archives at 445-3122 for information.
Posted: Monday, January 25, 2010
Article comment by:
Prescott Grown
I remember teen dances at the Hassayampa Country Club during the late '50's early '60's. Seems like maybe one a month throughout the summer months. We danced to records in the warm, summer nights out on the pool patio. Some woman's club must have provided refreshments, and I don't remember having to pay to go. Maybe it was by invitation only? Great memories. But, like "Curmudgeon" said...the Country Club became an elitist club, membership to which my parents avoided, much to my disappointment. We could only swim there if invited by a member. So we non-members had to be satisfied with the Granite Dells (really much better!) or the YCYC pool, which later became the YMCA. Other dances for teens throughout the summer included the Kiwanis Park dances where go-carts and golf could also be enjoyed; or the Odd Fellows Hall "stomps" upstairs from Barrows downtown on the corner of Cortez and Goodwin; or dances at the Sacred Heart gym where the fat father would patrol the dance floor making sure that everyone was a flashlight's length apart! Man-o-man...Prescott was fun in those days!
Posted: Monday, January 25, 2010
Article comment by:
Curmudgeon
Our family joined the country club in the late 1940s and left in the very early 60s. My first memories there were of learning to swim in 1949 at the age of four. Lying in the sun on the flagstone deck outside the clubhouse to get warm after the unheated pool was a little piece of heaven. ------- I started learning golf there in the mid-late 50s, and the greens were anything but "lush". They weren't even actual grass, but were a compacted sort of sawdust stuff that was colored green with a highly flammable kerosene-based dye, and they were very fragile to the touch. It was difficult not to take a "divot" while putting. Although smoking was not allowed in proximity of the greens, every once in a while someone would accidentally manage to ignite one and a large patch would be burned before it could be put out. The fairways never had much noticeable grass at all -- it was mostly golf in the dirt and weeds. ------ Membership was a (then) costly $90 per year throughout the late 40s and into the early 60s, when it suddenly more than tripled to $300; and that is what caused my family and many others to abandon the place -- we simply felt we couldn't afford it. $25 per month was not the tiny chunk of change it is today. Besides the prohibitive cost, many felt the place had become extremely elitist, and it became an un-fun place to be. Local consensus was that Bartlett horribly mismanaged the place and its demise had probably been predictable and avoidable.
Posted: Sunday, January 24, 2010
Article comment by:
Ann Howell
What fun these historical articles are. As a Realtor in the Prescott Area, I love knowing the background of the beautiful communities where we live and enjoy sharing these stories with my clients that already live here and those looking to buy in the area. Great Job Courier and Sharlot Hall Museum. Thank you.
